Angels are Back to Kick Your AAASS

By Carol Soon

The anticipated sequel to "Charlie's Angels" topped the charts as #1 in box offices within the first weekend of its release on June 27th with 38 million, but making two million less than what its predecessor brought in its opening in 2000. Dylan (Drew Barrymore), Natalie (Cameron Diaz), and Alex (Lucy Liu), master of espionage, disguise, and martial arts, return for another mission to save the world, in "Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle." This time, however, there is more action, more butt kicking, more sexy scenes, more enemies, and more celebrities.

Several characters from the first film return to propel the hype it brought with "Charlie's Angels"; amongst them are the creepy Thin Man (Crispin Glover), Alex's boyfriend Jason (Matt LeBlanc) and Natalie's boyfriend Pete (Luke Wilson), and all add to the tongue-in-cheek, comedic feel of the movie. Demi Moore making a comeback since last filming "G.I. Jane" in 1997, adds a new spice to this crazy-sexy-female-empowering movie, playing Madison Lee, the old-angel-turned-bad, while Bernie Mac replacing Bill Murray as John Bosley, has the audiences laughing at every scene. Bruce Willis ("Die Hard Series"), the Olsen twins, and singer and performer, Pink make cameo appearances along with special appearance by John Cleese ("Monty Python") who plays Alex's father.

The sequel expounds from its predecessor, and packs in 110 minutes of mindless entertainment and fun. Since the audience is already familiar with each unique personality of the trio, "Full Throttle" presents the angels as even sexier, more butt kickin' and harder on the crime fighting with several daring action scenes. There is nothing the angels can not do it seems, as they perform crazy daredevil stunts like dirt biking and surfing and all the while scantily clad in bikinis and high heels. They even disguise themselves as strippers to the thrill of the audience, all for the sole purpose of saving the world, of course.

The plotline is simple. There are two rings that everybody is after. They're valuable in what information it can provide but dangerous as to what they can do if they fall into the wrong hands. Several witnesses on the witness protection list have become endangered including a boy named Max (Shia LaBeouf) and even Dylan as the rings fall into the hands of several dangerous enemies. Dylan must face her vindictive ex-boyfriend (Justin Theroux) whom she helped put behind bars or forfeit her role as an angel to save the lives of others including her angel partners. Running away from her problems, Dylan is visited by a heavenly angel (Jaclyn Smith) who encourages her with a few words of wisdom. Madison Lee, an ex-angel, craving power and control over the world while also carrying a personal vendetta against Charlie and the new angels, wants to possess the two rings for her own selfish gain. The angels, unaware of Madison's evil intent, follow the trail of a seemingly innocent government agent (Robert Patrick) who is later revealed to be "in" on the scheme. It seems these bold sex kittens have nine lives as they fall off buildings, get shot, survive a bomb, get thrown off moving cars, get beaten but still manage to stay in one piece. The bottomline of the movie is not the plot, however, but the presentation of fast streaming action and seductive, beautiful women who frequently wear little, doing "hot" and exciting things.

"Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle" is what pure mindless entertainment should be. We can certainly expect the movie to be "hot" in the box offices as the mainstream demographic come to enjoy the thrill of watching three different little girls...who grew up to be three very different women...with three things in common...they're bright...they're beautiful...and they work for Charlie. Even if it is for the thrill of watching random appearances by celebrities such as Bruce Willis, or laughing along with Bernie Mac, or seeing the return of Demi Moore after her hiatus in acting, "Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle" can be expected to kick butt in theaters.

You can find more information at www.charliesangels.com

June 3, 2003